Virtual clinic offers ‘safety net’ for patients with cancer facing adverse events

Key takeaways:

• Citrus Oncology’s virtual cancer support clinic connects patients with specialists within 3 days.
• The platform offers a “safety net” to handle side effects linked to therapy.

A virtual multispecialty cancer support clinic intends to “connect the dots” to match patients with specialists within 3 days to help manage side effects of cancer treatment, including drug reactions and treatment-emergent adverse events.

“About 85% of cancer patients receive their cancer treatments in community cancer centers where access to specialists like endocrinologists, cardiologists and dermatologists is really nonexistent,” Afreen Shariff, MD, MBBS, co-founder of Citrus Oncology and director of the Duke Endo-Oncology program, told Healio. “We’re living in this gaping gap where side effects are not uncommon or rare but quite routine, and our specialty care has not kept pace with the growing needs of cancer patients.”

Shariff estimates that as more than 70% of patients have at least one preexisting condition when they are informed of their cancer diagnosis — usually diabetes or cardiovascular disease — which can complicate treatment or worsen as a result.

“We’re expecting a lot from our oncologists, because layered on top of these very effective treatments are side effects that require specialists to comanage,” Shariff said. “We’re asking oncologists to become endocrinologists, cardiologists, nephrologists, and it’s taking them away from what they do really well, which is treating cancer. A safety net like Citrus Oncology provides access to specialists who can jump in at the right time and comanage the patient with [the oncologist].”

Citrus Oncology was one of only 14 startups chosen for the prestigious 2025 CancerX Accelerator cohort, a highly competitive program spotlighting the next wave of digital innovation in oncology.

CancerX, a national initiative hosted by Moffitt Cancer Center in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, brings together leading-edge startups leveraging digital health and AI to tackle the most pressing challenges in cancer care.

The CancerX Accelerator program provides startups with direct access to industry champions, mentors and a robust network of experts. Startups also benefit from tailored product feedback, pilot opportunities with leading health care organizations and the potential for commercial agreements.

“CancerX has been a journey of discovery with our clients and our ability to see beyond what we thought was a problem and really understand what our customers and partners really wanted,” Shariff said. “Having that big landscape of showcasing our work really allowed us to absorb different viewpoints, different needs, different parts of the puzzle that we really needed to solve.”

In this video, Shariff shares insights into why she chose to participate in the CancerX Accelerator, the opportunities it has provided to the company and how Citrus Oncology enables oncologists to “democratize the care for side effects” and give ownership to the specialists.

As the official media partner of the CancerX 2025 Accelerator cohort, Healio will showcase key breakthroughs and achievements through exclusive interviews with this year’s startups as well as alumni groups from the 2024 program.

Applications for the 2026 CancerX Accelerator cohort will open Sept. 2, 2025, exclusively for CancerX members, with public applications opening Sept. 9, 2025. Join the CancerX community here.

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For more information:

Afreen Shariff, MD, MBBS, can be reached on LinkedIn here.